the california dream is over. >> the california dream is basically built on great public schools and colleges and universities. >> reporter: this is a tough sell, though, because you're asking people to voluntarily tax themselves. >> i've looked at the budget. i've cut $20 billion. if the people don't want to give the money, i can understand that. but we then can't spend what we don't have. >> reporter: brown's proposition 30 would increase the state's sales tax by a quarter percent and raise income tax rates on people making more than $250,000. >> vote yes on proposition 30. let's go! let's win. >> reporter: the current state budget assumes prop 30 will pass, so if it fails, $6 billion in education cuts automatically go into effect. that could shrink the school year by up to three weeks. >> reporter: some of your opponents believe that if this fails you will find a work-around. that you're not willing to cut education by $6 billion. >> if i could find it somewhere else, i would have found it. i don't do this because i have a lot of alternatives. it will be pretty drastic. >> reporte